Tiger and Dragon represent the Yin and Yang, land and water. Fun fact: In Run Ep.90 minute 27 Yoongi compares his dance contest with Tae to the fight of tiger and dragon. I only understood later that he was referencing this Yin and Yang concept.

Tent: in the context of war, a tent is not just your small camping thingy that only fits two people. Battlefield tents of generals can comfortably hold a meeting to discuss strategies and other necessities. They're more like a room with fabric walls and solid wooden frame.

Rampart: wall made of earth or stone to protect a camp/city

Namjoon focus

"General!" Namjoon called out when he saw the gray-haired man in front of the temple and jumped down from his horse.

"Prince Namjoon!" the old man called back, his unique cunning smile of yellow teeth resting on his weather-beaten face. "What a pleasure to see his highness again. Even though I wished it was under different circumstances." The graveness of their reunion was drawing a shadow over the man's face.

"To speak the truth," Namjoon tried to cheer him up, "I consider myself lucky to escape the court for a while."

The old general laughed and revealed even more yellowed teeth. "Then I congratulate his highness for leaving the cage of squeaking birds and welcome him to the den of stinky weasels," he joked.

"Then greet this stinky brother as your own," Namjoon went along with it, ignoring the shocked faces of some of the soldiers around them.

He finally came to a halt in front of the old man and dismounted his horse. "General," he greeted him with a soft bow of his head.

"Your highness," his greeting was return with just as much warmness. "If you would like, the temple can offer you a simple bath to clean yourself from the travel."

Namjoon snorted. "What kind of leader would I be if I cannot stand a two-days' stench," he replied. "Let me introduce my men to general Park."

Officer Park came forward with a grin. "Father, this is your son," he joked before he grabbed his old man for a bear hug and retreated with a reprimanding curse of the old Park thrown after him. "I will find brother Jihyun." And gone he was.

"This rascal," general Park still cursed before his eyes found advisor Min. Recognition crossed the tanned face and his black eyes shone brighter. "If that is not..." He collected himself and bowed. "Dragon of the Eastern Sea."

Advisor Min grinned and bowed equally as deep. "Tiger of the Sobaek Mountains."

Namjoon watched them curiously.

"Shall we greet the officers?" general Min asked, and general Park just nodded.

To say Namjoon was disappointed would have been an understatement. He felt like he had been robbed of what could have been a great reunion. How could those two behave like they just heard of each other in stories?

"Your highness?" Park asked for him when he did not follow them instantly.

Shaking off his confusion, he followed along to where Jimin had vanished.

In the back of the temple was a small garden where a few monks were taking care of plants while officer Park and another young man who looked like he could be his twin-brother were sitting in the shadow, talking animatedly.

General Park cleared his throat and the two jumped up.

"Your highness, you might not know my younger son Jihyun," the gray-haired introduced them.

"Your royal highness," the young man was quick to greet him and bowed deeply.

"I only read about officer Park on paper. I am pleased to meet him in person now," Namjoon replied. The young officer did not have more than five hundred men and was protecting a comparably unimportant region of the border, but he had only started working separately from his father two years ago, so it was nothing unusual.

"And this is monk Hong," the general proceeded with introducing a young monk who had joined their small group. "He is the head of this temple and takes care of the shrines around the area."

Namjoon bowed towards the monk who returned the greeting.

"Welcome, your highness. Advisor Min," the man said with a soft almost airy voice. "We prepared a room for his highness to spend the coming days and emptied one to host your meetings."

"Thank you, monk Hong," Namjoon replied and turned towards the soldiers. "Shall we exchange the trifles over lunch and then set up the headquarter for further discussions?"

"As his highness pleases," general Park answered nonchalantly and gestured him to enter the building.

"Why does monk Hong know advisor Min?" Namjoon could hear officer Park Jimin ask behind him and smiled.

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"Late summer is perfect for fire attacks, so if we settle down in the plains, we should burn down the grass first," general Park stated once they had set up an office and placed the maps on the tables they had pushed together. It was only advisor Min and Namjoon joining him for the planning.

"If general Park allows, we already made some basic plans back at the capital," Namjoon intervened.

The old man gestured him to explain.

"Your son argued that we should receive Hwon at the mouth of the pass to compensate for our inferior numbers, but I advised him against," he began his explanation.

"May I ask his highness why?"

"Because I do not want to attack them," Namjoon answered plainly.

The old general frowned. "If the advantage is on our site, we should not hesitate. Humanity and justice are the principles on which to govern a state, but not an army," he said determinedly.

"I know, but do not attack," Namjoon argued back. He had a reason for being soft.

"I might have to ignore his highness command," the general disagreed with him. It would have been his right to disobey Namjoon, but the crown prince was sure that he would reconsider once he heard about the reason.

"And what if I tell general Park that Hwon is not here for our land and treasures, but merely for my head? Would you reconsider then?" he asked.

Park seemed offended. "I would go forward with even more vigor. A headless kingdom is worse than a slain army," he said with a dark face.

"What if I can pacify him, make him an ally even? Would you reconsider then?" Namjoon kept insisting.

Consideration flickered through the brilliant black eyes before the old man gave in. "If that approach is more prone to success than my victory in battle, I shall listen to his highness."

Namjoon was pleased. "Let me tell you a story, general Park," he began.

"Maybe the general still remembers that my grandfather and Hwon's grandfather used to be sworn brothers." Park nodded, face serious. "To uphold the peace and friendship they had established, they let their sons grow up together in hopes that they would decide to become sworn brothers just like them.

"But fate was against this bond. My father and late king Hwon fell in love with the same woman, a headstrong female officer of the northern Jang family, my mother. As most young men are, they fought over her, and my father won. But in his eagerness, he cut off young Hwon's topknot. The shame was beyond comparison.

"I can see in general Park's face that he understands. Once they both had claimed the throne a war was inevitable. Old wounds needed to be mended. But their armies were equally strong, so in the end they had to give it up for the sake of the people, and a forced kind of peace was achieved.

"Thus, what I think young king Hwon is here for, is to prove himself to his dead father in achieving what his old man had not been able to, because he never felt like he could live up to his father's expectations. The motivation is a petty one and would mean that he is only here for my father's -or in exchange- my head," he concluded and looked at the two generals.

"What his highness said does not sound unreasonable," Park mused. "The reasons for this war must be a weak one because no man with a spark of common sense would march against a peaceful neighbor. We are not like the animals in the north." His eyes turned cold when he talked about the Northern War, and Namjoon's mind as well began to fill with the cruelty of those days.

He shook the pictures out of his head. "And now consider the motivation of his army," he continued. "They are close to homeland, their will to fight will be weak. They have lived comfortably in the peace our fathers kept. Will they die for a king who only strives for personal revenge?" He looked at the two others. "Here is what I am going to do: I will greet him personally and try to pacify him, and if that does not work, I will send my best man to spread this story under his soldiers. Let us weaken their general's and officers' arms with insubordination and we shall see who retreats first."

"Very well," general Park finally agreed. "But I expect his highness to prepare a plan that will protect him long enough to make an escape in case Hwon turns out to be an insufferable rascal."

Namjoon chuckled at the gruff response and nodded.

"Now since his highness decided to reside at Geumgang Temple, I suppose he plans to camp in this forest to close off the Gimcheon plains instead of the pass," the general analyzed sharply.

"As expected of general Park. You are still as quick as I remember," Namjoon noted pleased.

"Then let us use the time at this temple to pray for a thunderstorm in the next few days," the old man growled. "I would love to see the Hwon plague drowning in mud."

Namjoon joined the general's gleeful grin at the picture. As unhandy as a camp in the mountain forest was, it was never prone to having mud or scorching sun.

"General. Your highness," a voice from outside the door called. "Officer Park Seojoon arrived."

Namjoon raised his head. "Lead him inside."

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For dinner, the present officers, Namjoon, and advisor Min had joined general Park in his tent, and in the dim glow of the lanterns, their old comradery came back to life. Apart from Jihyun and advisor Min, they all had fought in the Northern War in their preadult days. Park Seojoon already as an officer, Park Jimin and Namjoon still holding lower titles.

"His highness seems like he is pondering over something," the general said with a look at Namjoon who was only staring at his bottle of wine instead of drinking it.

He looked up at their eldest. "I shall share my thoughts when officer Bogum and officer Hyungsik join us tomorrow." There was no advantage in telling only half of the high ranks about his plans and repeating himself tomorrow. It would do no good apart from easing his mind.

"Enlighten us, Namjoon," officer Jimin asked of him, etiquette and inhibitions flushed down with liquor. He received a hard kick from his father that made him topple over and the rest of them laugh.

Park Seojoon joined his cousin's pledge. "I would like to hear his highness' thoughts, too," the tall serene man said, eyes shining with attentiveness and curiosity. He was so very unlike his adoptive father minister Park, in looks as well as demeanor, that Namjoon always wondered how those two could have lived together as family for so long.

He turned to glance at general Min. The shorthaired man, even if he tried to hide it, looked just as interested as the rest of the soldiers. "Very well," Namjoon gave in and all the other men sat straighter. "I have thought about this idea on my way here. Our numbers are far smaller than Baekje's forces, so we must intimidate them to cause a temporary retreat until the Goguryeo troops arrive. General Min brought this plan to my mind when he said that the forest could hide our inferior numbers."

Several heads nodded.

"There are two ways in which the forest can do so. We can arrange our camps to look bigger and we can face the enemy in such a way that we can pretend that half of our troops are still inside the forest."

One of general Park's scrubby eyebrows was lifted. "How does his highness plan to accomplish this?"

Namjoon shifted from his easy lotus seat to his knees and put down the wine to freely gesture them what he meant. "Across from Geumgang Temple mountain in the south there is another mountain ridge in the north. Together they close off the western Gimcheon plains."

The officers nodded.

"I want half of our troops to reside on the southern mountain, and the other half to occupy the northern one." A split force always appeared bigger than a united one. "I want to stretch out the camps as far as possible, so that they appear twice as big as they truly are. Therefore, have the tents not arranged in rows but in a circle so that they surround and shield off a wide empty space in their midst."

What he was asking for was a completely foreign way of setting up a military camp. Normally the rows of tents were aligned in parallel rows that granted easy access to the general's tent in the center, all the roads led there. But what he wanted was the complete opposite; he wanted the roads to surround the camp like layers of ramparts in order to prohibit anyone from noticing the empty core.

Officer Seojoon furrowed his brows but nodded. "I seem to understand what his highness is saying."

But general Park still looked doubtful. "Pretending to be big in numbers by setting up our camps in a strange manner might be possible. But what about the direct confrontation. How does his highness want to pretend to be more than we truly are?"

"Like I said, the forest will help us," Namjoon repeated. "If we let Hwon march into the Gimcheon plains and meet him at the end, we can close off the path to the town by presenting him with the bigger portion of our men coming from the forest. He will not be able to detect that only a small rest is hidden between the trees." He had talked himself into excitement.

But general Park raised a hand to make him stop. The old man looked displeased. "His highness seems to forget that this is the real world and not some pretty brushstroke on paper."

Namjoon felt slight anger at those words. "And the general seems to forget the promise he made to me this afternoon. Is the general still unwilling, now that I came up with a plan that contributes to my wish to greet Hwon in person?"

The officers looked shocked at the prospect of exposing the crown prince to the enemy in such a blunt way. "Your highness," officer Seojoon wanted to interfere, but Namjoon raised a hand to hold him off.

"I explained my reasons to general Park, and he agreed to follow me should I come up with a plan," he said coldly. Namjoon would not slaughter two armies of fathers, brothers, and sons for the sake of a hot-headed young king. His plan had to work!

"That was before I heard of this ridiculous shamming," general Park said snidely, nothing of the normal warmth in his features. The comfortable brotherly mood in the tent changed to that of a battlefield office.

Namjoon straightened his back. "And what, may I ask, gives general Park the impression that my plan is ridiculous? I will allow Hwon to settle in the plains, I will greet him personally and present to him the seemingly huge manpower I have, and then I will give him two days to reconsider. Which general would not become suspicious and advise his king to take the two days to rest and plan? Which general would not rather spy out the enemy camp before he makes rash assumptions regarding a war that has such a weak motivation? Tell me, general Park... what would you do if faced with such a situation?"

General Park's agreement to this plan was essential, so Namjoon fixed the old man with a piercing stare, trying to look like he believed in his plan without a doubt. The thoughts this gray-haired tiger had; he could see them in his eyes. The initial retreat was almost guaranteed with his method because no general would march against a seemingly equal or bigger force with tired soldiers. Thus, the first day was safe. The second day would be secured by what the Hwon spies would tell about their strange setup of the camps once they had sneaked around at night. And on the third day the Goguryeo troops should arrive and support them.

And even if none of Namjoon's predictions came true, it would still be easier to defend Hwon when they approached from two sides with the forest to cover their backs, because if Hwon decided to split his troops on either side of the river that cut the Gimcheon plains in half, his forces would be hard to coordinate once the battel had started, and if he decided to stay on the southern side of the river, Namjoon's northern troops could easily cross the weak water stream to come to their help. The only mishap that could happen to them was a rainfall that would make the currently weak river swell up and cut their forces apart. But even then, the troops from the north could shoot their enemy down with a rain of arrows hiding behind the river as a natural fence.

Namjoon could see the general considering all of this as well and slowly giving in to him, but the old man's face remained sceptic.

"If I may speak," officer Seojoon broke the tense silence.

Namjoon let the general off the hook and nodded towards his nephew.

"Uncle, this plan might sound peculiar and unorthodox, but remember the day when his highness and brother Bogum decided to trick the Rouran army with an equally strange method." Namjoon remembered instantly and was grateful for officer Seojoon to put his weigh on his side of the scale. "We were exhausted from battle but Rouran would come for our camp, so we needed a quick solution. So, those two, after only a minute of consideration, sent all the soldiers into the tents in the center of the camp, telling them to feed all the campfires one more time and then to be as silent as if dead. Does uncle still remember how ghostly the camp had looked in broad daylight?"

The old general nodded, frowning when he realized he was outnumbered.

"The Rouran officers were so confused when they found the first rows of empty tents that they decided not to approach, expecting an ambush," Seojoon continued. "No one believed that the plan would work, but brother and his highness proved us wrong. Thus, uncle, I think we should trust the second prince with this."

Once pushed into desperation, it was not unheard of that officers would lure the enemy into their own camp and then burn it down. Namjoon and officer Bogum had grasped that last hope and had attempted what later became one of the many wondrous tales of the Northern War, the ghost army.

"As you wish," the general growled. "But I want my nephew to hear of this first, before I agree to set up the camps as requested by his highness." Now he looked tired rather than displeased. "And now leave, you young rascals. This old man needs rest."

Namjoon was the first to rise and give his goodbye. Wordlessly he left the tent.

"Your highness," the voice of Park Seojoon stopped him. "Don't be too hard on my uncle. He still has to accept that the face of war has changed over the years. Deception to this extent is not what he grew up to know."

Namjoon nodded softly. "I know. I value general Park's opinion very much. Only, we are not marching against the north; we are marching against our neighbors and former brothers."

"Indeed," the taller agreed with him.

"Thank you for speaking to him on my behalf, officer," Namjoon said and smiled tiredly.

"No need to thank me, your highness. I share your interest of sparing lives," the taller replied and bowed to leave before vanishing in the darkness.

>><<

"Humanity and justice are the principles on which to govern a state, but not an army; opportunism and flexibility, on the other hand, are military rather than civil virtues to assimilate the governing of an army" – Chang Yu

This is Namjoon's plan: